- Fossilised remains of ichthyosaur found on beach in England
- Experts estimate the ichthyosaur was more than 25 metres long
- Bones were found by 11-year-old Ruby Reynolds and her father
Searching on beaches for fossils is something many of us did when we were children, dreaming of finding dinosaur bones. But for one girl – that dream came true.
Ruby Reynolds, aged 11 at the time, was searching for fossils on fossils on the beach at Blue Anchor in Somerset, England, with her father, Justin, when she found pieces of bone.
Now, experts have identified the bones as belonging to the jaws of a new species of enormous ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile. Estimates suggest the reptile would have been more than 25 metres long.
Justin and Ruby, from Braunton in Devon, realised they had discovered something significant, so they contacted ichthyosaur expert, Dr Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist at The University of Manchester. Dr Lomax then contacted Paul de la Salle, a seasoned fossil collector who had found the first giant jawbone in May 2016 from further along the coast at Lilstock.
“I was amazed by the find,” said Dr Lomaz. “In 2018, my team (including Paul de la Salle) studied and described Paul’s giant jawbone and we had hoped that one day another would come to light. This new specimen is more complete, better preserved, and shows that we now have two of these giant bones – called a surangular – that have a unique shape and structure. I became very excited, to say the least.”
Justin and Ruby, together with Paul, Dr Lomax, and several family members, visited the site to hunt for more pieces of this rare discovery. Over time, the team found additional pieces of the same jaw which fit together perfectly, like a multimillion-year-old jigsaw.
The last piece of bone was recovered in October 2022.
The research team, led by Dr Lomax, revealed that the jaw bones belong to a new species of giant ichthyosaur that would have been about the size of a blue whale. Comparing the two examples of the same bone with the same unique features from the same geologic time zone supports their identifications.
The team have called the new genus and species Ichthyotitan severnensis, meaning ‘giant fish lizard of the Severn.’
The bones are around 202 million years old, dating to the end of the Triassic Period in a time known as the Rhaetian. During this time, the gigantic ichthyosaurs swam the seas while the dinosaurs walked on land. It was the titans’ final chapter, however—as the story told in the rocks above these fossils record a cataclysm known as the Late Triassic global mass extinction event. After this time, giant ichthyosaurs from the family known as Shastasauridae go extinct.
The new research has been published today in the open access journal PLOS ONE.
The discoveries will soon go on display at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.
